Identity: We are Made in the Image of Christ

Posted by JC4LIFE Co on May 02, 2018

Some people really struggle with how they see themselves. It’s not unusual for them to think more highly of themselves than they should or maybe to think too lowlyof themselves. But God wants us to have a proper and healthy view of ourselves; that begins with our identity and understanding that we are made in the image of Christ.

It says in Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Human beings are the only creatures created in the image of God! We bear our Creator’s likeness, and when we grasp the truth of our identity, we find our security and confidence in Jesus instead of in ourselves.

To redeem or buy mankind back from sin’s power, the Father sent Jesus Christ, His Son. Colossians 1:15 says, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Jesus was the first of anew kind of human.He was born of heaven (Spirit) and of flesh (body). Jesus was born in the image of His Father;and because of His sacrifice on the cross, when we accept Him as Savior, we, too, are made in the image of Christ, and our identity changes.

It’s important that our identityisgrounded in who Jesus is and who we are in Him, not in who we are. When we base our identity on what our talents are, what our job is, what our position is or what we have or don’t have, we forget that we are made in the image of Christ.

Romans 8:29 reminds us that we are “conformed to the image of His Son [Jesus].” This is both immediate and a process that takes time: our identity is immediately based on Christ, but it’s a process for us to realize this truth.Over time, as we get to know God more and more, we begin to see ourselves the way He sees us, and we understand that we are made in the image of Christ. We start to see how our old identity has gone and our new identity has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).